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It's impossible to talk about ska music in the USA and not mention the Toasters. Ever since introducing their brand of 2-Tone influenced ska music to an unsuspecting American public on New York's Lower East side in 1982, the Toasters have been on point of a movement that is now taking the country by storm -- even Billboard has dubbed the Toasters as "ska pioneers." Hardcore and punk bands such as the Bosstones and Rancid have adopted either horn sections or the punchy off-beat guitar stroke that characterizes the style and turned it into commercial success. The Bosstones went so far as to pay tribute to the Toasters on stage during the 1995 Lollapalooza tour, saying that they wouldn't have been where they were had it not been for the Toasters.

There has been a ska music spatio-temporal continuum ever since the early Jamaican greats like the Skatalites, Laurel Aitken and Prince Buster introduced the genre in the early sixties. Over the years, the music has shifted through several phases: rocksteady/skinhead reggae (1969), 2-Tone (1978) and now punk/ska. Without ska music, there'd be no reggae, no dancehall, no Reel Big Fish. It's a fact!

The Toasters were formed by Rob "Bucket" Hingley who had recently moved to NYC from the UK. At the time, 2-Tone (the Specials, Selecter, Madness, English Beat) had exploded all over the charts in England and ska was all the rage. Buck was shocked to find that ska music had barely made a dent in the conciousness of American pop culture. The lack of ska in the US set Buck on a mission, so he formed the Toasters with his co-workers from Forbidden Planet (a NYC comic/sci-fi store that Buck had come to the US to manage).

Since putting out their first single in 1983, the Toasters have gone on to cement their place in the ska continuum as America's premiere ska band. With constant touring (both in the USA and internationally) and a slew of albums (seven to be exact), several of which were produced by rock icon Joe Jackson (Look Sharp, Stepping Out...), the band has become synonymous with, and represents the real face of, ska music in the US today. The Toasters were the first US ska band to have records simultaneously released in Japan, Europe and South America. The Toasters have played thousands of shows from Caracas to Honolulu to Berlin -- even in some countries that no longer exist! There are pretenders to the throne, but it ain't over yet!

The Toasters have also founded Moon Ska Records, America's first and foremost independent all-ska record label, which nurtures and promotes a plethora of homegrown ska talent such as the Scofflaws, Mephiskapheles, the Skoidats, NY Ska Jazz Ensemble, the Skalars, Skavoovie & The Epitones, Skanic, Skinnerbox, Mobtown and more. Moon Ska also originally signed and developed such bands as Dance Hall Crashers, Hepcat and the Pietasters (all debuted on Moon Ska!). The seminal New York Beat sampler (released 1985) was the first compilation of what is now known as "Third Wave Ska." Moon's do-it-yourself ethic and unorthodox approach has stood conventional wisdom on its head and defied industry pundits who saw no future in the music.

Ska music is a predominantly live phenomenon where the audience is closely integrated into both the live shows and the socio-cultural scene swirling around it: rudies, skins and punks, frat boys, moshers and rastas. It's a musical blend that's right for virtually every taste from hardcore to pop, from reggae to jazz (as one California daily put it, the Toasters are "the Miles Davis of Ska").

Ska music is one of the few real alternative musical styles left. It has survived through the years because of the rich traditions imbued in it and because of the dedication of the bands that continue to play it. The Toasters are the band and the music is called ska!

The Toasters are currently touringthe US and Europe in support of their seventh full-length release, D. L. T. B. G. Y. D., on Moon Ska Records, which has already spent countless weeks at the top of CMJ's top 200, as well as Billboard's top 10 reggae releases. The Toasters first video in support of this release, "Don't Let The Bastards Grind You Down," has appeared on MTV's "120 Minutes" and has been in heavy rotation on MTV's sister station, M2. A second video from this release, "I'm Running Right Through the World." is in production. This spring, the Toasters will co-headline the "Ska Against Racism Tour" with Less Than Jake.

© 1999 Ariel Publicity and the Toasters